It’s been cold this week! One morning it was 19! Since we’ve been covering and uncovering the remaining vegetables in our garden, I decided it was time to pull them. Here’s what was left- turnips, radishes and a few lettuce leaves.

I turned my 2 helpers loose, and they picked it all.

We got a few good sized radishes. The turnips didn’t get big. I probably didn’t plant them early enough in August. We don’t normally eat turnip greens, but I read recently about dehyrdating them and then crushing into small pieces. this article said you couldn’t taste them in soup, and people just thought the green specks were herbs. I’m wondering if I can trick my family into eating them?

I have one lone rosebud in the Bible garden. I hope it’s open in time for Thanksgiving. And that it doesn’t die before then.

I have some peppermint still growing in the herb garden.

I transplated some into a pot to keep in the house.

I’m a horrible transplanter/potter. You know how on tv they can pot a plant without even getting their hands dirty? Well, not me! I get dirt everywhere. lol I hope it survives. lol

 

Do you still having anything growing or blooming or, like me, have you given up for the year?

 

Here are a few links I found interesting and helpful:

Venison Home Processing

Heavy Mulch Gardening

Print Your Own Seed Packets

 

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Yes, I know it’s Monday. lol  But I didn’t want to miss sharing my Burning Bush with you.

This was at it’s peak, taken last Tuesday. Just absolutely gorgeous! Right now however, almost all the leaves are gone. We’ve had a lot of wind the last few days, and the bush succumbed to the wind.

I really love my Burning Bush!

 

 

Do you still having anything growing or blooming?

 

Here are a few links I found interesting and helpful:

Staple Winter Food video- who knew you could eat acorns?!
Refrigerator Without Power
Mullein
Plantain

 

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Gardening is almost done for the year here in Kentucky. I still have some lettuce, turnips and radishes left in the garden. We are covering and uncovering everyday to protect them from the frost.

 

I have flowers blooming, though! This cyclamen is in the Bible Garden. It was called a Hardy Cyclamen when I bought it. I guess it is hardy, as we haven’t been covering it at night. It has 3 little flowers on it.

I actually have a bud on one of the rose bushes, too. I’ve had roses before on Thanksgiving, so they are right on track.

The Burning Bush is gorgeous this year! It’s on the front corner of the house. To the right is the Bible Garden, the bush is actually part of the Bible Garden. The front garden is to the left of the bush.

Do you still having anything growing or blooming?

 

Here are a few links I found interesting and helpful:

Using Ashes in the Garden
Growing Carrots in a Soda Bottle – A great gardening project to do with the kids.
How to Make Elderberry Syrup
Urban Homesteading
How to Save Tomato Seeds – video

 

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Fall is well underway, and judging by the weather this week, winter isn’t very far away. We’ve had freezing temps, heavy frost and even sleet this week.

In spite of that weather, I still have some flowers blooming in a pot by the front porch.

You can see the Hibiscus branches in the front right of the picture, and by the chicken. Up from the chicken, is the row of apple trees that are losing their leaves. To the right of the apple trees is the row of raspberry plants. While I was out taking these pictures, I ate 4 raspberries. yum! There are only 3 left on the vines to ripen. I will miss picking and eating raspberries every time I walk around the yard. The kids will, too. Why bother carrying them in the house, when you can stand at the vine and eat them. lol

This Dogwood in the backyard is pretty.  You can see the creek behind and to the right of it. The goat pen is on the other side of the creek.

The turnips, lettuce and radishes are still growing in the garden. We cover them at night, allowing them to get some light and sun during the day. I need to put some boards around them and cover with white/clear plastic. I’m afraid we will forget to cover them one night and they will all die.

What I really need is a greenhouse. lol

 

Here are a few links I found interesting and helpful:
Canning Dry Goods
How to Make a Plantain Tincture
Make Your Own Seed Tape
Simple Steps to Grow a Hundred Pounds of Potatoes in a Barrel
How to Butcher Chickens
Keeping a Harvest Time Gleaning Contact List

 

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We’ve been having low temps in the 30’s a couple of nights.Everything is starting to die off, but we still have a few things growing.

In the Bible Garden, we have Roses blooming. There is even another bud coming. The red dot in the background is another Rose at the other end of the garden.

The huge Rose.

We’ve been having to cover what’s left in the garden. The Zucchini plant finally succumbed to the cold, though.

These are the Turnips, Radishes, and Lettuce. They are under the blue tarp above.

We’ve been able to keep the tomatoes going thus far, but the plants are getting spindly looking. This is what most of the plants looked like at lunch time today. After supper, my husband went out and picked all the tomatoes. They brought in 3 grocery store bags full of tomatoes. There were a lot of green ones. We’ll left some ripen in the house, and the others I’ll slice and freeze. Fried Green Tomatoes will be a nice treat in the middle of winter.  🙂

The Raspberries have stopped putting out berries. I only found these, and 2 pale pink ones today.

Hannah decided she wanted to try saving seeds from the Hibiscus plants today. The leaves are all gone, and the seed heads are dried out.

This is the Purple Hyacinth Bean. I only found a couple of flowers left, but the leaves are still green. This is over 10 feet tall. We have had fun growing this for the first time this year. I’m a little disappointed that the seed pods are only about 3 inches long when the package said 8-10 inches long. Maybe next year we’ll get some that size.

Tonight for supper we had salad from the garden. Lettuce, tomatoes and radishes. yum!

Here are some links I found interesting and helpful:

Making Elderberry Tinctures
How to Make Elderberry Syrup for Flu Prevention
Farming with Epsom Salts
Rose Hip Jelly

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Even though we got down to 30 degress here one night last week, we still have a few flowers blooming.

The Mandevilla still has a bloom. It’s almost time to bring this in the house for the winter.

These are the Purple Hyacinth Beans growing up the tree instead of the trellis. lol Well, it grew up the trellis, too, it just out grew the trellis. This tree is over 12 feet tall and as you can see, the vine is taller.

The bean pods didn’t get as long as the package said, but are still pretty. The flowers are mostly gone, but the pods look cool.

These next two flowers are in pots on the front porch.

The Hardy Cyclamen in the bible Garden is blooming. I love these little flowers.

Each rose bush in the Bible Garden has a bud on it.

I have had roses up into November. Which is pretty cool.

 

The Dogwood trees is very colorful now.

And it’s time to harvest the Basil again.

My youngest son found a good use for all the leaves on the ground. Put them all in the trailer and take a nap! lol

It just cracks me up how he took his shoes and socks off and lined them up on the side of the trailer. lol

 

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I was very surprised to find a Hibiscus flower this week. They’ve already gone to seed, but decided to give me one more blossom.

This Zinnia is the biggest, fullest one I’ve ever seen.

The Dogwood leaves are changing, and there are berries on the tree. Fall is definitely here.

And this my friends, is the tomato jungle. No, my husband never did get the plants staked. Good thing we put the cardboard down first, then cut holes for the seedlings. If we had a lot weeds in here, we’d have a real mess.

Our newest crops of lettuce, spinach, turnips, and radishes are doing well. Time to thin them out and make a salad!

The raspberries are still coming strong. We haven’t made anything with them yet, we just eat them. 🙂

A few weeks ago, I harvested a lot of basil to dry. I left the plants, just cut the tops off, leaving a couple of leaves. They are all growing again. Looks like I’ll be able to get another harvest or two.  🙂

Despite being neglected by me, (or maybe because of it) the peppermint is still growing. I need to decide if I want to dry any. decisions, decisions…..

The flowers in the planter under the butterfly bush in the front yard are still blooming.  Next year, we will definitely move it out from under the bush, though. It didn’t get enough sun, as the bush grew a lot this summer, more than we thought it would.

I’m so excited, the Purple Hyacinth Bean is growing seed pods!

I can’t wait to see how big they get!

Speaking of seed pods…..The Red Bud trees are covered with them.

As is the Mimosa tree! Pretty, fluffy, fragrant pink blossoms all summer and cool seed pods in the fall, it’s a great tree.

The Mandevilla is finally blooming! I’m not sure why it waited all summer to bloom, but I’ll just enjoy the show. 🙂

A very full tour this week. And I didn’t even include pictures of the veggies we harvested. We got a yellow squash, a couple of zucchinis and cucumbers and a lot of tomatoes this week.

 

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